Sunday, August 4, 2013

Indian Idol Junior...New Gems In Our Musical World!

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I always love to watch musical reality shows from the saregama days (Sonu Nigam was the anchor and Shreya Goshal participated as a small girl). In those days, the stage was simply decorated and importance was given just for the quality of the singers. Now, the stage decoration has become too gawdy and the anchors mostly talk a lot. But the current 'Indian Idol Junior' has got quality, though I don't like the glaring lights in the background. But the children are dressed up normally and the judges are very genuine in their opinion/advices. I enjoy Vishal, Shekhar and Shreya combination. They are whole-heartedly involved with the participants. They love the children.

My family doesn't approve of actors coming on these stages and performing. Some are genuine but most of them act here too. Yesterday Shah Rukh and Padukone participated. Padukone should not have dressed like she did in a children's show. I know both Shah Rukh and Padukone are talented in their own way. This is a children's show. It is going to be like this hereafter, I know. But the children are extremely talented. Some sample:

First, Sugandha Date: 8 year old girl from Maharashtra. Unbelievably talented singer. All of us love her toothy smile. Bappi Laahiri presented her a chain in appreciation of her singing. She is too good, but simple looking. Here is a small clip.

This girl Debanjana is 14 years old and classically trained. Her voice resembles Shreya's a lot but has got her own tinge. I love her hair style! Very innocent looking face. Very very talented singer. Rohit has already offered her a chance in his next film.

Priyam is a very very good singer from Assam. I was not able to get a good video from You tube. Here it is from her facebook page. Like the judges say here, she sings from her heart.

One of my favourite singer is the small girl, Sonakshi from West Bengal. She is too good. I couldn't get her good video.

Anjana Padmanabhan, a small girl from Bangalore (Tamil is her mother tongue) is making waves in this programme. I couldn't get a good video of her song.

I have to mention about Anmol, Nirvesh and Aakash. Perfect singers. The videos of 'Indian Idol junior' do not make justice to their voices. Most of them are classically trained but Aakash comes from a small village where he doesn't even go to movies. Heard and learnt music. He is in the top 10 singers now!

I got this link from rediff.com You can have a glimpse of the singers.

If you are a music lover and a person to appreciate upcoming talents, do watch 'Indian Idol Junior' episodes on Sat. and Sun. at 8.30 pm - Sony TV. I had been trying to get good videos of the singers, but could not. I have recorded episodes of Bappi Laahiri, Mannade special etc. and keep on watching them. All the children sing songs of all genres like pros.

Well, I am disappointed for not covering all the good singers from the episodes of the show. I will include the videos when I come across them.

Edited to add a new video of Anjana (5.8.13): I came across this video in the morning. I was thinking that my post is not complete if I don't feature the videos of other children but I couldn't get clear videos. Even this video is not clear. But you can see how the judges select children for this competition. Check their expressions! This video is the preliminary round of Anjana:

You can notice the awe in the judges' faces. This girl is too good. This video was taken in the beginning of this series. Lateron when they stay there and get trained by stalwarts, they improve a lot. You can see that in the later videos. The judges themselves give them tips. These judges are too good. They know to pick good voices and then they train them. This girl Anjana did not know Hindi in the beginning. Very limited knowledge was there of this language. She has improved a lot now. Again training was there, it seems. She was near perfect in the pronunciation of the words even without knowing the language. She is a versatile singer, she sings any type of songs whether it is Sunidhi Chauhaan's fast nos. or Lathaji's soft songs.

The same goes to Sonakshi. She is a Bengali. Language problem was a bit less for her than Anjana. But this girl is amazingly talented. I will look out for a good video of hers too and post it here later.

Keep coming and enjoy the music and please tell me whom you liked most! I am just curious!

And I must post a video of Anmol! He too is a strong contender!

Another video of Debanjana. I had posted this many times but it was not visible in the preview also. I don't know what mistake I am making! Let me try again!

EDITED TO ADD on 4.9.13: Anjana Padmanabhan won the title. The link is here.

Though I like the quality of singers, I don't like reality shows due to all the unnecessary DRAMA involved. In the name of showing 'natural' emotions, they make small kids act on-stage, at that tender age.

Secondly, I don't like to see sponsored ads during a 'music' reality show - SRK and Deepika coming in was clearly a promo for Chennai Express??

DESTINATION INFINITY: Check my link of 'saregama'. That was the oldest reality show, as far as I know. Sonu nigam was the anchor. The set was simple. The judges were stalwarts in music world. Sonu started singing in movies after that. He participated in Annu Kapoor's 'Antakshari'. He was around 16 or 17 then. He sang very well. I remember it even now. Then he was selected to anchor saregama.

At least here, in this Indian idol, junior, children are not 'dressed up'. Yes, the actors come to promote their movies which is the new trend which I hate. The children will get spoiled. Shreya was selected from saregama. She was a very small girl then 10-12.

In Tamil, ragamalika is simple and nice. But the participants are not this good. Haricharan, Harish Raghavendra and some more got their recognition via this prog. Super singer children are good. But the prog. has spoiled them. Dancing, over make up...All my relatives watch and so I watch sometimes. Many are good singers. Anjana also was there! Ananth Vaidhyanathan, the voice expert is a real expert. He is training them. His dress sense is horrible though!

I am against shows that involved children and get them into dramebaazi, not to mention that their studies get affected. It should be made mandatory to not allow participation of minor kids by government.

RACHNA: Have you watched the first musical reality programme, 'saregama'. It was clean. No dramebaazi. The judges were prominent people in filmy and classical music world. I miss that type of programme.

The current programme was going well. The children were dressed normally, without makeup etc. Now, the actors have started coming. The children dance with them, which I hate. It is never going to be the same like 'saregama'. Shreya and Sonu became famous because of that show.

I was told that the children are made to study and are taken care of well in the 3 months' camp. One parent must stay with them, it seems. I don't like the elimination suspenses also. But the parents are game for it! The children are made to taste the tough future, so early in life. I don't like to watch small children singing item nos.

Shankar Mahadevan's episode was good.

I think many people don't like this reality shows. This is the first time I am getting very less nos. of comments! In one way it is good to know that people don't appreciate childrens' reality shows.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and loved all the children and their songs in the videos, such wonderful talent, they show passion for music, they are an inspiration to people like me who love sing as a hobby!! :)

At home we always watch music shows, my parents love them, they watch both in Hindi as well as Telugu, the juniors show is very heart touching as every child is special in their own way, it feels so good to see children singing, sweet voices and innocent expressions, rarely do we get a chance to listen to so many talented kids together sharing a stage!!

Thank you for taking the effort to bring in so many videos, I've checked all the links and it is hard to pick one, cause they are all gems and they have a bright future ahead of them :)

SAI CHARAN: Yes, all the children are singing well and it is very difficult for the judges to find fault with any of them. The children are treated like children in this prog. The only draw back is the actors promoting their films via this prog. Otherwise we enjoy watching this prog.

Thanks Sandhya, for making me aware of how good the junior singing program is. I used to occasionally watch Tamil junior singers, and got to really admire the kids who have such good voices, but these advertisement breaks really got into my nerves and I have stopped watching them.

I saw an episode once and saw many talented singers...however... i am still opposed to they being prepared for such contests...

why can't music be just harnessed and taught and practiced... why do we need contests and ratings... I just loathe and the emotions these folks in these programs utilise I don't like.. I am against inculcating this winning mindset in kids...

Hitchwriter: Hmm...yes, I feel sorry for the kids sometimes. Competition is OK. But making the children to wait for their elimination is the worst thing. Many children who are here, have participated in earlier contests too. They are too good. At least here, the judges are very soft. But dramatisation is still there. I just watch this prog. for the talented singers. Sonu, Shreya, Ganjawala and many others have come out from these types of contests! If you want to become famous, you have to fight for it. These children start from their young age, thanks (!) to their parents.